s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
How to pronounce sample in American English
SAM·puhl
Start here
Americans pronounce sample as SAM-puhl (/ˈsæmpəl/). In "sample", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. This is called the Cat-Vowel Before M/N, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as SAM·puhl. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She is analyzing the composition of the soil sample" or "The sample size was large enough to draw valid conclusions" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "sample".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
a/æ/
NasalizedThe tongue relaxes down in the back and the corners of the lips relax before the consonant. This adds a schwa-like 'uh' relaxation after the /æ/. Think of it as 'relaxing out of the vowel' — it is no longer a pure /æ/ sound.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
In real conversation
Hear "sample" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"She is analyzing the composition of the soil sample."
shee ihz A·nuh·lahy·zuhng dhuh kahm·puh·ZIH·shuhn uhv dhuh SOYL SAM·puhl
"The sample size was large enough to draw valid conclusions."
dhuh SAM·puhl SAHYZ wuhz LARJ uh·NUHF tuh DRAH VA·luhd kuhn·KLOO·zhuhnz
"The sample size was large enough to ensure statistical significance."
dhuh SAM·puhl SAHYZ wuhz LARJ uh·NUHF tuh uhn·SHUUR stuh·TIH·stuh·kuhl sihg·NIH·fuh·kuhns
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Pronouncing the vowel before M/N too pure.
In "sample", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.
SAM-puhl→SAM·puhl
02
Treating every L the same.
The L in "sample" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
sample→SAM·puhl
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch SAM — keep everything else short and quick.
sam·PUHL→SAM·puhl
04
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
SAM·PUHL→SAM·puhl
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "sample" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "SAM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "SAM-puhl" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "sample" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "SAM-puhl" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "sample" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "SAM-puhl" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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